NEWS NEWS NEWS!!!! Aldergrove License Secures Canopy with more than a Million Additional sq. ft. of Licensed Production
ALDERGROVE, BC, Feb. 20, 2018 /CNW/ - Canopy Growth Corporation ("Canopy Growth" or the "Company") (TSX: WEED) is pleased to announce that it has received a cultivation licence for the first of its two sites operating under the BC Tweed Joint Venture Inc. ("BC Tweed") banner.
The rapid licensing of the Aldergrove site, the largest federally licensed cannabis site anywhere in the world, continues a pattern of professional execution for the Company as it prepares to meet an unprecedented increase in demand in a few short months once legal adult-use markets commence. The initial licensing covers over 400,000 sq. ft. of growing space, allowing vegetative growth so that the mature plants can be spread into the full 1.3 million sq. ft. in the coming months for flowering and ultimate harvest.
Friday was the culmination of world class execution (and not much sleep) from the Company's BC team with support from teams across the country, as in only a few short months the site was renovated with lighting, shade systems, security, and automated systems to meet the rigorous standards of both the ACMPR and Canopy Growth. Over the weekend, the site received the largest single shipment of cannabis clones in the Company's history, with over 100,000 live cannabis clones flying high from the Tweed Smiths Falls Campus to their new home in British Columbia.
"Our team has made monumental and often historic progress in the retail landscape of every Canadian province to have announced its system to date. We are the only producer in Canada who can make this claim and we will continue to leverage our production platform in order to solidify a truly national presence for our cannabis brands," said Mark Zekulin, President, Canopy Growth. "A cultivation license for our first BC Tweed site positions us to continue this trend as Canada's, and indeed the world's largest, most reliable and most diversified producer and seller of high quality regulated cannabis."
"As proud native British Columbians and long-time horticulture producers we are excited to continue the proud tradition of BC bud on a national scale," said Victor Krahn, who runs operations for BC Tweed. "Working with Canopy Growth we're going to take the Tweed brand to the next level on the West Coast and bring the best our province has to offer to the country and the world."
With the Aldergrove, BC site now into the production stage, BC Tweed's focus will turn to its second BC site, a 1.7 million sq. ft. greenhouse, with work already well under way. With this expansion, Canopy Growth is on track to have over 5.6 million sq. ft. of domestic growing space.
Management consulted IIROC and made the decision to halt trading of Canopy Growth common shares on the TSX on Friday, Feb 16th at approximately 4:20 pm ET when it learned that it had been issued the licence because it represented a material change in the Company's production capacity.